


Yellow Lillies

by Silvalina



Series: Kitchen without Gun: Army writes everything in this [1]
Category: Splatoon, coroika - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Army is a writer, Coroika, Fluff, M/M, Slow Burn, Specs is an artist, This is, This is just the start of a clusterfuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:48:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25601608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvalina/pseuds/Silvalina
Summary: Army had problems with continuing the second book of his series about the adventures of the Four. Maybe one fateful encounter may help him with this.---------This kinda contains spoilers for like, Autumn Leaves, youll see how if you read it. Its still fun though, so please enjoy.
Relationships: Army/Glasses | Specs
Series: Kitchen without Gun: Army writes everything in this [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1855555
Kudos: 5
Collections: CoroikaCollection





	Yellow Lillies

He always had a fable for writing.

Be it silly little stories, poetry for his journal, or one of his novels, he just loved it with all his heart and soul: writing, thinking, and drafting for hours on end; never knowing when to expect his next breakthrough; and getting a writer's block here and there, cause of course you'd get them. I mean, when you write every free second of your life, filling whole books and shelves and rooms, then one in a shelf in a shop, a library, two in the shop, three people borrowed one book, he saw another person reading one of his books on a park bench the other day, smiling and enjoying it in their own pace, a small tad bit of happiness radiating off of them.

He loved seeing that happiness; it filled him with absolute joy, with ecstatic feelings of making a change in someone's life with a single letter, a word, a sentence, a page, a book, a series... he could go on and on about his own books if he could, but he adored his anonymity at best. It gave him a sense of freedom, of walking outside and going through shops, of seeing his own books displayed and bought and enjoyed and criticized, of his work getting recognized enough for someone to actually criticize him; he absolutely loved that. 

Whole published books with poems and silly little stories was not where he started.  
It may have just been Aloha going through one of his journals one day and gasping, being amazed by the fun stories he wrote about this one inkling he made up and put in so many genres and poems, be it a small story about a medieval curse which brought doom upon him in the end or just a little poem about hair ties. 

That character meant a lot to him.

So he stood there at first, a blushing mess, deciding between pushing Aloha away and just running, embarrassed about him having found out about his little secret. But then his best friend started gushing about how well it was written and if Army wrote it and how he bet that people would read the others' work, and all the while a smile spread over the pink inkling’s face. 

And he realized at that moment that he wanted to give this kind of smile to even more people; he wanted to give people happiness and a small escape from life itself, and if someone needed something sad to cry to, he would write it. And if someone needed something happy to laugh about, he would write it.

\------------------------------

Aloha had successfully dragged him over to their living room - the four of them having lived as roommates for some time - and sat Army down on the couch, showing off his stories and poems to Skull and Mask, after Army allowed him to of course.  
What Army did not expect was for them to actually be interested in his work. Mask going as far as to take what turned out to be the medieval story Army wrote to his room to read in the evening. Aloha actually laughed and joked about how Mask only ever read manga and how good it had to be for the squid to actually be that invested in it after reading a page or two.

Skull had taken to one of his poem draft books, reading some of them and getting just as invested in them as Mask seemed to be with the other ones.  
He had said that he really enjoyed the whole book, even picking out some of his favorites and telling Army about it, asking him questions.

Army lit up, all his confusion about the whole situation being washed away by the happy chatter about plot points and whole universes of story building, while Skull and Aloha listened intently, throwing in ideas here and there which led to what would turn out to be Army's most successful novel, ironically in the same universe the short story Mask read was in, making Mask almost beg Army to make him a character in the book.

In the end they were the main characters, just a ragtag group of friends trying to survive in a country that is out to get them while collecting magical artifacts, on their way to end the current monarchy.

For the current time though…

Army sat in his room, head in his hands and groaning.

He was in the middle of the second book of his series, his publisher eager to get the book in stores as fast as they can after the first one sold so well.  
But he was just in a slump.  
His main characters just met an unassuming traveller who would later turn out to be the tyrannic monarch’s little brother, trying to find people who could show him the wrongs of his ways. But currently Army had more of a problem for some side plots, specifically a romance one. He had written one in other books, having no problems fitting any in, but this was his magnum opus, his baby; he couldn't just throw in some random side characters, he wanted some good actual romance subplots where the characters establish something and not just get together because of fate…

He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice Aloha sneaking up on him from behind, surprising the smaller inkling who promptly hit the other in the face.

“FUCK! Army, that hurt!”

Aloha held his nose, a little bit of blood trickling down from it.

He just looked at the pink cephalopod, unamused.  
“You know not to come from behind like that. Also…”  
He held his hand out, making a grabby motion with his fingers.  
“One for the swear jar, you also know not to curse in this house.”

Aloha just grumbled but started grinning when he saw the script, everything else quickly forgotten as he grabbed the paper as Army prefered to write drafts in his journals at first and then write them off of it digitally.

“Oh, this sounds awesome! I still love how you actually wrote us three into that book, also is that prince-”

Army yelped, getting his book back and started grumbling just like Aloha did not only a minute ago.  
“Hmpf, you still gotta put one in the swear jar. Also, I actually brainstormed with the monarchs for this, you should've seen the pride on Emperor’s face when I told him I wanted to make him the corruptive king; he loved it.”

Army smiled at the memory from the day before, drinking his weekly tea with N-Pacer and discussing something when the others came in and Prince wanted to know more about his books, which led to a big brainstorming session. Even Eging was gonna be included into the story as a knight of the monarchy, swearing his loyalty to the king but following Prince when he decided to run away, both leaving their old lives behind for the conquest.

It wasn't farfetched to say that they were going to get copies of the book for their help.

But back to the current problem, with Army groaning again as he remembered it.  
“Aloha, I’m in a slump… I don't know how to go forth with the story, I don't want the romance to be empty and boring.”

Aloha just laughed about that, swinging an arm over the orange inkling’s shoulder.  
“You're worried about that? I mean all the other ones turned out fine, so this one will as well~”  
When Army didn't respond to that, Aloha just sighed.  
“Tell you what, go outside and clear your head a little, maybe look at how relationships are in their natural habitat.”  
Army actually chuckled at that, throwing Aloha off of him with a laugh.

“This isn't National Woomygraphic™️, you doofus. Though I'll probably do that, clear my head a little.”  
Aloha grinned at him, and Army felt his heart flutter, absolutely adoring it when he makes one of his friends smile.

He really appreciates his friends.

\------------------------------

“Can I please get a coffee and a Diet Coke, for here?”

Army stood by the counter of the nice little coffee shop around the corner: the perfect place to get a grip and write some more. The whole atmosphere was just absolutely beautiful with the nice background music, picked from the owner herself. Army had a soft spot for them; they helped him out a lot, giving him some coffee for free when he was out late and working on projects. They even let him sleep in the backroom when he passed out from exhaustion, writing for days straight. They were just the best…

“-rmy, Army! Your coffee is done dear, I took the liberty and got you a piece of the applepie you like so much.”

They smiled, sharp teeth showing off from the sharklings face, and Army blushed, not even able to protest when they gave him the food for free.  
“Have fun writing dear, your usual place by the tree is still free if you want to sit down there.”

They waved him off and got to the next customer, a blue inkling with a slight stutter. Army brushed them off for now.  
He got up and went over to the place of his destination, sitting down by the nice cherry blossom tree the shop had in the middle of its room, a big table being around it with nice places to sit and relax around.  
The inkling sat down by his usual place, taking a seat by one of the bigger branches, and touched the leaves of the tree, guiding his hand over to the rough texture of the tree bark. It was simply marvelous to have this little escape in the otherwise busy city.

He took a sip from his Diet Coke and got his hand on the journal he had with him, putting it down on the table and spreading his notes out. He had the simple designs of the characters as doodles made by Mask on one sheet, all with their character traits and details. Like how Aloha’s freckles seemed to light up when he was excited, or Skull having the traits of a Vampire Squid, a Kraken, and a Weresquid - an abomination one would say. But he had a good heart, and Army wanted him to be like that, stemming his personality from the original. Then there was Mask, a human cursed with elemental powers. Others would say he had been blessed, but the boy just couldn't live with them, especially after he had been cast out of his village. He saw himself as much of a monster as Skull had, and they bonded over it.

Now Army's own character was the kicker. He made himself just a normal human with no special powers or anything else but his extensive knowledge. After what had happened in the first book, the king of his own kingdom made him a knight, giving him the blessing of the title and a place in the castle which he turned down to travel around with his newfound companions.   
And now they were on their way to bring down a monarchy, having heard about it from passing travelers. The emperor was smart and brave, with enough weapons to back himself up…

Army was once again deep in thought, plotting more and more about what would happen in the next chapter after they met the emperor's younger brother and the rogue knight that accompanied him. He didn't notice that someone sat down, not too far away from him.

\------------------------

Specs had had a rough day.

After losing a whole project to an accident and almost getting one of his clients to withdraw their commision, he just couldn't feel but relieved that they didn't and extended his time by a couple of days so he could redo everything. At least he still had his sketches.  
The blue inkling went into the coffee shop, not taking notice of anything around him until he was spoken to by the barista, asking him what he wanted. After answering with a startled stutter and getting told that everything’s alright, he had his hot chocolate and went on to get himself a nice secluded spot, going over to the comfortable table by the shops famous cherry tree, setting down his small watercolor set and pencils. Since it was still way too early in the morning almost nobody was in the shop.

It felt serene.

But he still couldn't concentrate, looking over his sketches again and again, trying to make sense of what he had imagined then, but he just couldn't work on it right now, he was just too frustrated with the entire situation. Huffing, he took another sip of his hot chocolate and looked over to the inkling that sat at the tree as well, looking deep in thought with many papers strewn around them. Specs was never one to peep into other squids’ business, but the way he looked so deep in thought made him interested in what he was trying to do.

When he saw the drawings, he was impressed. 

The character sheets looked so well thought out with so many details and notes, down to the smallest character trait. He had a sudden burst of inspiration, he needed to draw one of these characters.  
So he tried to get the sketches and colors down as fast as possible as to not get any attention from the squid and exhaled in relief when he was done, settling down a little bit away from them so they wouldn't see and he wouldn’t have to have an awkward conversation about why he was drawing their characters. But it was just so much fun!

This ‘Aloha’ character, supposedly a witch, seemed so carefree and goofy but cared deeply about his friends, yet he had some bad traits like how he thought that the others would leave him the moment they didn't see any use in him: an inner conflict, Specs really liked that in a good character.

Anyway.

As soon as Specs began to sketch the characters out and line them, he was fully in trance, way too invested into the characters by the first line, the first color, the first shading and highlighting and details, in their hair and the small folds in their clothing up into the little freckles and sparkles in their eyes…

It was simply marvelous, and he couldn't hold himself from drawing them all down into the last spec of dirt on their feet.

When he was done, he finally realized the pair of eyes that stared at him and what he was doing.

“Ehm… Hi?”

Wow, what a powermove Specs.

\------------

Army stared at the peculiar boy who was drawing his characters, staring down at the paper the other has between his hands. There was his own personal character, the knight, right next to the witch and the beast, the spectral sketched out on the other side in a rather shy pose. 

And he was so invested in that.

The way the other made them come alive on the paper was so marvelous, he wanted, no, craved more of that content.

Though when he finally averted his gaze from the paper, Army's eyes met with ocean deep blue ones, getting captivated in them. Now he not only wanted to know the artist, he absolutely wanted to get to know the person behind the drawings.

"Ehm… Hey…"

He blushed a little and he grinned with closed eyes, trying to make the situation less awkward for the both of them, the other inkling kind of doing the same until he started to chuckle, laughing at the absurdity of the situation. When their laughter died down, another phase of awkward silence almost made itself known until Army took a leap of faith and just started talking.

"The way you drew them is very interesting  
I really love your artstyle."  
He tried not to look at Specs while he said that, just looking straight down at the drawings the other squid made so detailed and carefully.

Specs felt his face burn up at the compliment, just staring down at the drawing as well. It had some badly placed lines and one or two wrongly chosen colours. He just couldn't not look at the imperfections of his art, it was just like that for him. But seeing someone else compliment him on it.

It felt nice.

"You did a really good job drawing them, are you a professional?"

Army almost stuttered a little at the start bit caught himself, delivering the question with more confidence than he thought he had.

"Ehm, well I wouldn't call myself a professional... But I do commissions and get money that way..."

He was a little self conscious, sometimes asking himself why people would even pay money to get one of their characters drawn by him. The only reason he did these at all was to find inspiration, to find characters that he can relate to and draw and enjoy drawing them.

Specs only problem had always been that he couldn't come up with any characters on his own, he didn't lack any talent or supplies just... The imagination.  
And that always bugged him severely. He sat hours and hours at his table, brainstorming and trying to come up with anything that makes sense and looks nice but to no avail. It had always been weird to him, growing up as the child prodigy, doing wonderfully in school but suddenly branching off into art when he got his hands on a pen.

At least his parents were supportive of him, helping him out with moving out and getting him settled down somewhere where he could find himself.  
That wasn't working though or at least it didn't work how he wanted it to.  
Anyway, as the squid got more quiet, Army picked up one of his drawings, going into his serious, professional mode.

“Say, how much is a commission?”

\------------

They both left the small coffee shop two hours later, both one phone number heavier and with a lot of unresolved questions for the other. But they had some more time to figure that out. 

More than enough time.


End file.
